I have no excuse.

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"Get up! Colonnello this is not the time to sleep!"

Colonnello shot up in his bed to find Rohas staring down at him fully dressed with a look of desperation. Looking around he noticed that it was completely dark in the room which meant that sunrise wasn't for another few hours, which also means that he had only gotten about two hours of sleep. "Rohas what do you want, kora?" He said lying back down.

"There's been a problem. Lal's calling everyone in." Rohas said.

Colonnello looked Rohas dead in the eye. "Rohas…is it Aldina?"

Rohas didn't say anything, just threw Colonnello a shirt and some shoes. "Lal's office in five minutes." And with that left Colonnello in the dark.

He walked into the office to find it packed with people from several different divisions surrounding the desk in the front of the room. Only the lights in the front of the room were on to shine on the map displays on the board on the wall. Tacks were pushed into places with string connecting some of them together. Seeing Rohas to the side, he walks over and stands as Lal keeps on talking not even noticing he had walked in.

"Everyone is here." Anthony said as the last of the people requested found a spot in the room. Lal looked around before starting off with the basics. "Thirty-six hours ago a team of six went to find this man…" she slams a picture of a man on the desk. "Who we lost contact with sixteen hours prior. The team's mission was to go in and get him back. We received a transmission an hour and a half ago from Lieutenant who was on the mission. The mission to rescue this man was completed. However…" Lal turned around and taped three pictures to the board. "We have three missing persons. One woman that was on Lieutenants squad. She's an expert marksman and has several missions underneath her belt. The man in the picture is the map keeper. Since everyone has moved out from the base there is no reason to place him as a priority above the other two. This is his third mission. Lastly we are missing General Aldina. Under normal circumstances we would not be overly concerned about her as she usually would contact us, however the time period is growing with not a word from her which means she is either injured or dead. "

"What's the injury report?" Geo asked leaning back into he had claimed.

"Lieutenant didn't give much about the status of everyone on the mission. They should have already arrived at the closest military hospital. All we know is at the moment we were talking to Lieutenant everyone was alive. You'll have all the reports sometime later today letting you know the extent of the injuries and any death certificates if it comes to it." Anthony answered.

Colonnello stared at the board as a face stared back at him. "We'll be splitting into three teams, each with a designated person. The teams have already been picked with team leaders being Anthony, Luke and Markovitch. At the end of this meeting each leader well sound off who they have on their team and have half an hour to leave. Now Markovitch what do you have for us?" Lal asked.

Markovitch stood up with a laptop facing outwards so that the screen was towards the group. "Each member was given a tracker. They're a new technology but they have worked so far. At the moment we only have signals from two trackers." He pulled up a picture of the map that was currently displayed on the board onto his screen with two blinking blue dots. "These dots indicate where they are positioned, or where the trackers fell off if they did. We only have the female marksman and General Aldina. We cannot get the signal of the map keepers."

Colonnello could feel some of the weight on his shoulders ease off and could feel the stiffness of Rohas next to him lessen. Lal pointed at the map and noted some important terrain difficulties before signaling the meeting over, but no one moved. Anthony stood up and started calling the men he had. Four people got up and left with him. Luke was next and left with three by his side. Moving his leg up and down out of nerves, Colonnello hoped he was picked to go. Markovitch closed his laptop and looked at a sheet of paper. He called the name of some man he had never seen before. He was short and lanky and seemed to know Markovitch personally, which made it easy to guess that he probably came from the other base. "Colonnello!"

Looking away from the short men his gaze made contact with Markovitch. "You're with me. Lal told me you're an excellent marksman and can handle traps if needed, correct?"

Colonnello walked over and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Great. Get your gear but pack lightly. I'll meet you both out front."

All three groups climbed out of the helicopters onto the ground, where each of the team leaders would get together one last time before they separated. Colonnello stood with the other man in his team, trying not to let the upset look on his face appear. "You're trying really hard not to let anyone see how mad you are aren't you?" The man next to him said.

"I wouldn't say I'm mad, kora."

The man looked up at him and smiled. "Maybe not, but the minute we found out that our orders was to find the map keeper you have been pretty distant. It's alright to want to go find the General."

"How did you know, kora?" Colonnello asked watching as Luke shouted something at Anthony.

"People talk a lot. Besides we're more needed with Markovitch since he sometimes doesn't remember the situation he's in. Just leave the General to Anthony, we'll see them when we get to the hospital." He said.

Colonnello thanked him as Markovitch came back over. "We're all going to be heading in the same direction so we'll travel together. Once were about a mile from General's position we'll all split off. Let's go." Markovitch said as Anthony's group led the way.

Colonnello shrugged his rifle up his shoulder as it started to fall. They were moving at a quick pace and planned on reaching their targets before the scheduled time, well at least Luke and Anthony were. Colonnello wasn't sure how they were going to find the map keeper when there was no limited area he could be in. He could literally be anywhere!

Anthony's voiced reached into everyone's earpiece, letting them know it was time to split up. Markovitch turned to his two and pulled them to the left and started walking off the road path into the forest. "We'll go this way. It'll start to slope so be careful with the soil." He said before taking the lead. Colonnello didn't understand why they were going this direction but left it to the leader.

"You're not part of the rescue squad are you?" The short man asked Colonnello after twenty minutes.

Looking away from the forest that was slowly turning into rock sides he shook his head. "No, kora. I work with Lal. Rescue isn't my expertise."

"I thought so. You're very tense, which is nice since we don't know what's out here. But you also look confused on where we're going?" He said.

"Well Markovitch hasn't said anything since we split up or pulled out a map, kora. I'm not in the mood to get lost." Colonnello explained looking at their leader who was looking around before decided to follow the rock wall.

"I guess General Aldina doesn't tell anyone but Markovitch has a photographic memory." Colonnello quickly turned to the man shocked. "Yeah it's why the General got him to join the rescue squad. She saw it had benefits, and well he rather be out in the field than behind a computer screen."

"That's why he was picked to find the map keeper, kora. I guess it would make since. If he memorized the area, we wouldn't need to constantly stop to look where we are." Colonnello said more to himself than to the man beside him.

Static went through all their earpieces causing them each to stop. Markovitch looked over his shoulder and motioned them to be quiet, but that didn't stop Markovitch to wander around the area. It was a few moments before any words came through. "This is Captain two can anyone here me?" Luke's voice went through the ears.

"Captain three hears you." Markovitch says automatically walking behind some large rocks.

A few seconds went by before they heard Anthony. "Captain one, what do you have?"

"We have the marksman. She's unconscious and seems to have lost some blood. I can't tell anything from where I am though. The helicopter has are position and we'll be lifting out in five minutes." Luke said.

"Alright let us know when you've left the ground. We're almost to General's position. Will keep posted." Anthony said.

"This is Captain three…" Markovitch said looking down. Colonnello and the short man walked over and came up behind him. "We've found a body."

Colonnello looked down at the man who didn't look like he fell off the rock wall. The short man bent down and started evaluating. "It's not our map keeper. He's not wearing a uniform but he does have one of our rifles. I'm assuming he came in contact with him. Broken nose, dislocated shoulder, stab wound to the chest and the throat, and bullet holes. It was a quick death." He said.

Markovitch turned and started talking. "The body is of an unidentified male who may have come in contact with our target. I don't see anything that may lead to the idea that he is injured, but looking at the fight it's most likely he is. However we're on his trail."

Static rang through the ear pieces as Markovitch finished. "This is Captain one. Proceed with caution. Report anything else you see." With that the static was gone.

Looking around more cautious than ever, Colonnello looked for anything out of the ordinary. No one just finds a body out of nowhere. Eyeing the rocks his gaze wandered up until he saw what he considered unordinary. Grabbing a hold of the rocks he pulled himself up and started to climb. Once up about fifteen feet he made sure his one hand grasped the rock tightly enough before he reached over to the dark red spot. "What do you see?" Markovitch asked.

Colonnello pressed his fingers to it and pulled away to see nothing on them. "Dried blood, kora!" He shouted moving to see it better. "It looks like he scaled up the rocks to get away. From the way the blood dried and the amount on the rocks it looks to be from a fresh wound." He said before making his way back down.

"If he was able to get onto the other side and stop the bleeding, he should be fine. It doesn't look like a lot of blood." The short man said. Markovitch agreed and looked at the wall.

"There is an easier passage over the rock about a quarter of a mile ahead. We'll cross there and keep our search. Colonnello…" Markovitch said looking at him. "Have your gun out and ready. I don't need another body."

There wasn't much coming from over the radio signal. Luke noted them that they had left the ground leaving the two teams. Markovitch had gotten them across the rock wall without too much trouble and made them walk back up the quarter mile to wear the map keeper would have landed. Colonnello pulled his gun up to look through the scope as they started to come up on their destination. Nothing so far had come at them and every once in a while they'd come across some harmless animals but not anything human.

"Well we have more blood." Markovitch said looking up at the rock wall and letting his eyes travel down to the ground. "He also left a trail back into the forest."

"Based on his height and weight with the amount of blood he's losing I'd say he should be anywhere within a mile, but depending on his need to survive it could be even farther. Perhaps two maybe three." The small man said. Colonnello looked at the blood on the ground and started following it into the forest.

"I'd say within a mile, kora." Colonnello said looking at the group. "The blood spots coincides with his strides, and usually I'd say with his height his stride would be a good two feet. This here looks like five to seven inches. If he was trying to get away from someone he didn't make it with his injuries, kora."

Markovitch ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Static ran through their earpieces causing the three to remain silent. A rush and out of breath voice came through. "Captain three you there? This is Captain one we have a major problem." Anthony shouted.

"Captain three, what's wrong?" Markovitch asked.

"We have the map keeper!"

Colonnello could feel his chest constrict causing him to gasp for some air. "What do you mean?" Markovitch hissed. Colonnello leaned against the nearest tree and watched the emotions flash across the team leader's face.

"We have the map keeper. He's fine for the most part. A shot to the rib cage but nothing to be concerned about, but he is awake. He's not making too much sense probably from blood loss but he has General's tracker."

"Where is his tracker?! Does he have it on him?" Markovitch was starting to pace. This changes everything.

"His tracker is broken, which means General gave hers to him." Anthony shouted as the sound of a helicopter started to drown out his voice. "We're lifting him in now and should be off the ground in two minutes. Your mission has changed, your target is now the General."

Markovitch stared into the forest with a hard look on his face. "You said he was trying to speak. What was he saying?" He asked.

The static came through but all they really heard was the wind. "Something about the river." Anthony said trying make his voice louder than the wind. "Go across not down. That's all he keeps saying. He doesn't say anything else."

"Thanks. We'll keep you posted. We should find her in the hour." Markovitch said before taking his earpiece out and letting it hang against his chest. "Finding a man with little to no experience is far different than finding someone who does this for a living. The mindset that a person has is different. Decision making can fall between logical and irrational. Where a person goes and what they leave behind is going to change based on the person. We'll have to change how we find her. She won't take anything too simple, but she'll follow what the map keeper told her."

"I'm going to be hated for this." The short man said looking at the two. "But logically she'd be within the next half mile. There would be no way she could go any further not with the blood loss, and to be frank she's probably dead."

"Then we'll get her body." Markovitch stated.

Colonnello remained quiet as he thought over what he heard. While he hadn't known Aldina for as long as Markovitch or even Anthony he knew for sure she at least made it to the river, and he be damned if she didn't cross that river. "The river is close by if the amount of wildlife is anything to go by, and while the General has suffered from some injury she also knows how to handle it, kora. If anything we won't find anything until we get to the river, kora." Colonnello said looking into the forest.

"She does have medical training, and years of experience to go by. If she did make it to the river, she stayed near the shrubs and avoid anything large she would have to get around on her way there." Markovitch said leading the way winding around the trees.

After twenty minutes went by they kept on their path, they could hear the river but Markovitch told them it was at least another five minutes. There was no sign of Aldina, no large blood splatter or body so they assumed that she had made it. However, there was also a lack of wildlife which set Colonnello on edge. Rivers were a stable in animal populations, which is weird as this area is completely untouched. Stopping his pace, his hand reached out to grab the back of Markovitch's uniform shirt and pulled him back. The short man stopped at the yelp that came from the leader. "What are you doing?" He asked but was shushed by the blonde.

Markovitch watched as Colonnello looked around before taking a deep breath in. "Do you smell that, kora?" He whispered letting go of Markovitch's shirt and pulling his gun up to face level.

"No" They both said as they watched him take a few steps forward with his gun aimed.

"Gunpowder. It's not fresh, perhaps a day old, kora." He explained as the others followed behind him. They could see the river through the trees but that wasn't all. Colonnello squatted down and looked through his scope to make sure nothing moved.

"I have thirteen bodies just by my count." Markovitch said pulling out his hand gun.

"I have seventeen, kora. I don't see anyone moving and it looks like they set off the traps. We should be fine moving in, kora."

Markovitch left the safety of the trees and into the heap of bodies they lied everywhere. All of them were unidentifiable and wore no cohesive uniform. Most we burnt beyond recognition while some still had a face to them. "Do you see her?" He asked nudging a body with his foot.

Colonnello looked around and examined the extent of the blast. "Looks like it was done with grenades and based on the blast radius, several of them." Bending down he moved some dirt around and found a silver wire. "Trip wires, kora."

"I have footsteps on the other side of the bank." The short man said getting that attention of the other two. "The prints look small. It could be her."

"There is nothing here, we might as well keep walking." Markovitch stepped into the water and took it slow just in case the current took his feet out from under him. "Keep an eye out for any traps Colonnello. She might have a few more laying around."

Markovitch bent down and picked up some weeds that were pulled out of the ground. The beginning of the tree line didn't start for another twenty feet so the weeds couldn't have come from that direction. Looking at the rock wall he followed the bottom to see where the majority of weeds started to collect. Leaning forwards onto his hands he lowered his head seeing a hole ten feet to left. Markovitch hopped to his feet before jogging over. "One of you call for the helicopter!" He shouted getting back down onto his knees.

"But we haven't found her, kora." Colonnello said confused.

Markovitch pulled out a flashlight from his bag and leaned further down to get a better look into the hole. "I found her." He said.

The short man quickly ran over while Colonnello pressed his earpiece onto talk. "This is Team Three, we have found our target. We need a helicopter on our position immediately, kora." Swinging his rifle back onto his shoulder he ran over as the short man was trying to fit himself into the hole. He was the only one small enough to fit more than his arms in there.

"I got her leg. Pull me out slowly! I can't see if she has any major injuries." He said.

Markovitch grabbed both his legs and started dragging him out. Colonnello opened the bag Markovitch dropped and started pulling out medical supplies as fast as he could as he watched her legs start to come out from the hole that she had shoved herself into. Looking away as they pulled her out he tried to pay more attention to getting the supplies. He wasn't sure if he could look at her without getting emotional. It was different to see someone almost dead on a movie screen than it was in real life, and it hurt more knowing that he knew the person.

Markovitch let go of the man's legs and fell by Aldina's head to check for a pulse. His fingers pressed deep into her neck desperate for anything. He could hear the helicopter coming to their position and with the movement that the short man was causing as he tried to check her wounds, he couldn't get a solid pulse. "Colonnello I need some gauze." The man shouted.

Almost instantly, gauze was unwrapped and pressed against the stab wound on her abdomen. Markovitch watched as Colonnello didn't look anywhere but at where he was instructed to put pressure. The winds started to whip around them as the helicopter started to descend to land. "On my mark we need to lift her up so that the EMTs can put a board under her." Markovitch stated as men started to jump out the flying machine. The three of them each grabbed ahold of her and when the medical team came closer they lifted her up. The medics quickly started to strap her in and place an oxygen mask around her face before taking her to the helicopter.

Markovitch seeing the stillness in Colonnello grabbed him by his arm and started to drag him to the helicopter. "Get in!" Coming back to his sense Colonnello got in as they started to ascend